Upon injury to the leg, knee or foot, the injured limb is typically put in a soft or hard cast or splint to render the injured portion of the leg or foot generally immovable. Typically, such injured person walks with the aid of a cane or crutches or is confined to a wheelchair or the like while provided with limited mobility.
Medical devices have been developed to better facilitate ambulation. U.S. Pat. No. 2,827,897, issued Mar. 25, 1958 to Zygunta Pawloski and entitled "ARTICULATED LEG BRACE" is directed to an articulated leg brace which extends from the thigh to the foot of the user for supporting the injured leg and which snugly engages and supports the person's thigh, as well as the kneecap to distribute the load uniformly over a large area while the user is walking and sitting. The structure is quite complicated, employs a curved elongate member which conforms to and is strap mounted to the underside of the thigh of the user, extends on one leg substantially from the hip to the knee, utilizes a rod telescopically secured to a post and pivotably connected to multiple struts and employs additionally a pair of brace members pivotably secured to the U-shaped member strapped beneath the thigh. During walking, several members form a vertically upright post, lock into vertically upright aligned positions to facilitate ambulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,595, issued Jan. 12, 1993 to Douglas MacGregor and entitled "WALKING DEVICE TO ASSIST THOSE WITH AN INJURY TO A LOWER LIMB", also employs a vertically upright post member having respective upper and lower respective thigh and leg receiving members of channel shape which are strapped about the thigh and leg to permit the injured limb to bear the weight of the user and thus the load in compression rather than in sheer.
Such devices eliminate the need for crutches but are quite difficult for older people or people with weight problems to rise into an upright position after putting on such walking devices. Indeed, doctors for years have been reluctant to prescribe crutches for people who are injured in their later years due to lack of upper body strength, poor balance and the practical inability to stand from a sitting position and then place crutches under their arms.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved sit to stand hinged seat type walker with a pull-up handle to facilitate attachment of the walker to the injured limb of the body, particularly of users having limited upper body strength, poor balance or other difficulties when attempting to stand from a sitting position, which is comfortable in ambulation, which supports the weight of the user while straddling a seat in normal horizontal position perpendicular to the axis of the walker post when vertically upright.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such sit to stand hinged seat walker with a pull-up handle, readily graspable by the user and whose flat seat is rotatable from a horizontal position with the post upright to a lowered, upwardly oblique position to the rear of the handle to permit ready coupling of the thigh and leg of the user to hinged components of the walker.